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The Month in Pictures: February 2013

Arafat Jaradat’s family mourns during his funeral in the West Bank village of Sair, near Hebron, 25 February. Jaradat’s death in an Israeli jail has sparked protests across Palestine.

Issam RimawiAPA images

Hundreds of Palestinians were injured by Israeli forces during protests across the occupied West Bank following the death of Arafat Jaradat at Megiddo prison in Israel on 23 February. A Palestinian doctor who participated in the autopsy found that Jaradat died of nervous shock as a result of torture; Israel rejects this and has not issued a conclusion on the autopsy’s findings.

Israeli settlers opened fire with live ammunition on houses in the Palestinian village of Qusra near the northern West Bank city of Nablus and vandalized olive trees — part of a pattern systematic violence by settlers in the area in recent years. Settler attacks were also reported in other areas in the West Bank throughout the month.

In Gaza, a three-day-old infant died in a fire caused by candles during a power outage. Eight persons including four children have been killed in incidents related to power outages since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile a 16-year-old boy died after he was electrocuted in a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border; eight workers have died in tunnel-related incidents so far this year.

Israeli forces continued to fire on Palestinian laborers on the Gaza boundary and at fisherman off of Gaza’s coast; more than 100 Palestinian civilians have been injured by Israeli fire in access-restricted areas in Gaza since the November 2012 ceasefire.

The above statistics are compiled from UN OCHA’s Protection of Civilians Weekly Reports.

Friends evacuate teenager Muhammad al-Kurdi, who was injured by ammunition fired by Israeli forces during protests in Aida refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, 25 February. The demonstrations were in response to the death of Arafat Jaradat in Israeli custody.

Ryan Rodrick BeilerActiveStills

An Israeli soldier throws a sound bomb at fleeing demonstrators during a protest against the closure of Shuhada Street to Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron, 22 February. Hundreds of demonstrators, including foreign and Israeli activists, gathered on the day, marking the 19th anniversary of the street’s closure by the Israeli army in 1994 following settler Baruch Goldstein’s rampage inside the Ibrahimi mosque, killing 29 Palestinian worshipers.

Ryan Rodrick BeilerActiveStills

Israeli forces stand by as bulldozers destroy a Palestinian house in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina, 5 February.

Mahfouz Abu TurkAPA images

Smoke billows following an explosion in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis on 25 February as Palestinian security forces work with United Nations explosives experts to detect and neutralize unexploded ordnance left behind during Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip in November 2012.

Eyad Al BabaAPA images

Palestinian children walk by interior ministry buildings bombed during last November’s Israeli assault against the Gaza Strip, 10 February.

Anne PaqActiveStills

Palestinian workers rebuild a home demolished in an Israeli military airstrike in Beit Lahiya during Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip last November, 19 February.

Anne PaqActiveStills

A Palestinian woman watches from her door as Jewish settlers participate in the traditional Purim holiday parade taking place on Hebron’s Shuhada street, heavily guarded by Israeli police and military forces, 24 February. Shuhada street, once the heart of the West Bank city’s prosperous market, has been closed to Palestinian businesses or access for the past 19 years, while Jewish settlers are free to use it as they please.

ActiveStills

Palestinian children confront Israeli soldiers during a weekly demonstration against the occupation and wall in the West Bank village of al-Maasara, 1 February. If completed as planned, the wall will cut off the village from its agricultural lands.

Ryan Rodrick BeilerActiveStills

A Palestinian activist is arrested by Israeli police officers during a demonstration in solidarity with Samer Issawi outside the magistrate court in Jerusalem, 21 February.

Oren ZivActiveStills

Palestinian protesters throw stones at Israeli border police during clashes at Huwwara military checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus on 25 February following the death of a Palestinian prisoner Arafat Jaradat.

Nedal EshtayahAPA images

Israeli security officers detain a Palestinian youth during clashes at Huwwara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus following a demonstration in support of Samer Issawi and other prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli prisons, 18 February. Israeli security forces detained several Palestinian youths during the clashes, media sources said.

Palestinians perform Friday prayers in front of Ofer prison, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, prior to a demonstration in support of Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prison, 15 February.

Issam RimawiAPA images

Palestinian protesters perform a street play on how Israel arrests Palestinians during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners in the West Bank city of Nablus, 14 February.

Nedal EshtayahAPA images

Emad Burnat, his wife Soraya and son Jibreel arrive at the red carpet for the 85th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, on 24 February. The film 5 Broken Cameras, an intimate portrayal a West Bank village’s popular resistance against Israel’s wall based on Burnat’s footage and narration, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature.

Frederic J. BrownAFP/Getty Images/Newscom

Mahmoud Sarsak (left), a Palestinian footballer and ex-prisoner, is seen next to Akram Rikhawi, three days following Rikhawi’s release after nine years in Israeli prison and a hunger strike which lasted more than 100 days, Rafah, Gaza Strip, 10 February.

Anne PaqActiveStills

A Palestinian activist displays military rubbish during a protest against the new Israeli dump site in Qusin village west of the West Bank city of Nablus. The dump site is one kilometer away from the built‐up area of the village and is located in an area rich with groundwater resources. Israel started to dump contents of trucks loaded with unknown waste in a dump site one week ago.

Ahmad Al-BazzActiveStills

Palestinian students walk through a sewage tunnel to get to school near the West Bank village of Jaba, south of Jenin, 5 February. Students try to avoid crossing the heavily-trafficked main road on which children have been killed.

Issam RimawiAPA images

Palestinians inspect the burned marketplace in the West Bank city of Nablus, 3 February. Firefighters battled the huge blaze for five hours.

Nedal EshtayahAPA images

A Palestinian woman looks for her name on voter lists put up on a wall inside a school in Gaza City, 11 February. The Palestinian Central Election Commission is registering voters in Gaza and the West Bank for upcoming elections.

Ashraf AmraAPA images

A Palestinian student learns Hebrew at a government-run school in Gaza City, 20 February.

Ashraf AmraAPA images

Palestinian workers prepare carnations for export at a farm in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, 12 February after Israel granted special approval for exporting limited quantities of flowers from the Gaza Strip to the European market.

Eyad Al BabaAPA images

Ayat al-Mahareeq, a Palestinian tailor, in her workshop in the West Bank city of Hebron, 16 February.